GERMAN INSURANCE GIANT TO ENTER DANISH MARKET
Dec. 5, 2007 | Topic: CompaniesEurope’s largest insurance company, Allianz, is aiming to win Nordic industrial customers from its new office in Copenhagen.
Europe's largest insurance company, Allianz, is aiming to win Nordic industrial customers from its new office in Copenhagen.
A new player is entering the already strongly competitive Danish market for industry insurance. German giant Allianz is returning to Denmark after an absence of almost ten years, writes Børsen Business Daily.
Europe's largest insurance group, Allianz, was forced to withdraw from the Danish market in 1998 after having unsuccessfully targeted private customers on whom several other international insurance companies also burnt their fingers in the late 1990s.
Allianz has now decided to focus on large Danish companies and is shortly to open its new office in Copenhagen, which will be responsible for the industrial insurance segment throughout Nordic countries and the Baltic states. Allianz will be competing with companies such as Finnish If and Danish TrygVesta and Codan.
The competition does not scare general manager Stig Jensen, whom Allianz recently headhunted from its competitor Gerling to head the Nordic offensive.
Allianz has chosen Copenhagen as its Nordic head office because of the concentration of companies in the Øresund Region and the chance of recruiting staff with Danish as well as Swedish backgrounds. The target segment is companies with a turnover of over DKK 500 million as potential customers. According to Stig Jensen, there are approximately 700 such companies in Denmark. Allianz will also go after companies within special segments such as biotech, in which it has specialised. In addition, Allianz will provide marine, airline and liability insurance to Nordic companies.